1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for performing a test supplementary to neurological examination, which determines whether a cervical acceleration injury has occurred. In addition, the invention relates to a method of determining a cervical acceleration injury.
2. Background Art
A cervical acceleration injury, also known as whiplash, manifests itself in persons who have been run into from behind in a vehicle. It has been proven statistically that a combination of symptoms of a subjective character, such as headache, loss of concentration, memory loss and fatigue, is related to being run into from behind. However, medical researchers have to date been unable to find any anatomical substrate or pathophysiological mechanism which explains this combination of symptoms. Insurance companies and benefits agencies are dependent on the subjective judgment of a medical practitioner, who determines whether the person has a cervical acceleration injury.
The present invention has for its object to provide a possibility of determining in objective manner whether a cervical acceleration injury has occurred. For this purpose a device is provided for performing a vestibular test supplementary to a neurological examination. The device of the present invention comprises a platform connected non-movably to a fixed ground for supporting a person, a visually manipulable environment in which the person is placed, in addition to sensors connected to the platform and/or to this person for measuring postural corrections of this person, and computing means connected to the sensors, wherein means are arranged for comparing the values generated by the sensors with standard values in order to obtain a measure for the visual dependency of this person.
Measurements are hereby performed in objective manner with which an objective judgment in respect to the presence of a cervical acceleration injury in the person in question can be obtained. The judgment is based on objective changes in the postural balance as observed in a large group of people with an identical pattern of symptoms which manifests itself following a cervical acceleration injury.
The visually manipulable environment is preferably formed by a tilting room. The person is situated on the platform arranged in the tilting room, whereby he is subject to a visually manipulable environment.
What is in effect measured in the device is how the postural balance of a person functions under different conditions of the body of the person and of the environment, for instance the tilting room, in which the person is standing. In order to be able to cause the person to react realistically to his environment, the person will have to have the most realistic possible idea of the environment in which he is situated. For this purpose the room tilts on imaginary lines running through or close to the centre of the platform.
In order to be able to draw conclusions in simple manner from the performed examination, the comparing means are part of the computing means.